Creative excellence earns WFU 8 Gold Awards from CASE

“Voices of Our Time – Ta’Nehisi Coates” poster won the Grand Gold Award.

Wake Forest continues to raise the bar of creative excellence for best practices in advancement, winning eight varying Gold Awards in the annual 2016 Circle of Excellence awards program sponsored by The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Wake Forest Magazine received the Gold Award in the General Interest Magazines category, circulation 37,000+. “Wake Forest obviously is doing everything right … someone here is thinking about how images enhance storytelling – something we wished we had seen in more magazines.”

The magazine also won the Gold Award in the category Staff Periodicals Writing. The entry included “The Hidden Gym,” “Family Trees” and “Inside Pitch” by managing editor Cherin C. Poovey; “Look at Her Now” by Maria Henson, associate vice president and editor-at-large; and “Real-Life Drama” by senior editor Kerry M. King.

The judges noted: “This publication truly sets the gold standard for alumni magazines that aspire to inform, affirm, entertain and engage. Each story was allowed to develop and fully engage the reader.”

The Communications and External Relations team received a total of six Gold Awards for a range of creative work in varying categories.

For the Multi-page Publication which had 94 entries, the team won the Grand Gold Award for “iPlace Viewbook” which was noted for its “edgy, outside the box, design” and use of bold colors. “The combination of photography and line drawing to provide visual explanation was very well done,” noted the judges.

In the Posters category with 32 entries, the Grand Gold Award was achieved for “Voices of Our Time – Ta’Nehisi Coates” which was, according to judges’ comments, an “overwhelming favorite.” The entry was described as “compelling,” “stunning” and “a rare design that goes beyond its intended project or purpose and creates additional rich communication opportunities.”

In the Specialty Pieces category with 49 entries, the team won the Gold Award for the “Demon Deacon Playing Cards,” for an “unusual and irresistible annual fund campaign.” The cards were described as “beautiful and fun, with quality typography and a restrained black-and-gold color palette highlighted by pops of silver and gold foil on the card packaging. The judges kept returning to this entry, wanting to handle the cards and keep flipping through.”

A Grand Gold Award was received in the Annual Giving Programs category out of 38 entries for “Naming Rights for the Rest of Us,” a campaign created to celebrate the donors whose smaller annual gifts make a big difference. The judges said: “The institution took items from around campus that held significance and offered exclusive naming rights for several lucky donors – items like the telephone of the man who makes the call when classes are canceled due to weather, the leaf blower that always seems to be operating outside a dorm window at 7am, and the skillet of a legendary campus chef.”

Out of 51 entries in the Annual Reports & Fund Reports, Wake won the Gold Award for “Year Two,” which judges described as a “daring departure from the standard cookie-cutter annual report. The design was modern and accessible and the narrative compelling.”

For the Viewbooks and Prospectuses (Print) category, which had 52 entries, the University won the Gold Award for the “Admissions Viewbook.” Judges noted that the entry “created a tone and visual energy that could provide answers to prospective students in ways that conjure the student experience.”

The awards competition received 3,356 entries for consideration in nearly 100 categories from more than 713 higher education institutions, independent schools and affiliated organizations located worldwide.

CASE is one of the largest international associations of education institutions with more than 3,600 member colleges and universities and honors outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing at colleges, universities, independent schools and affiliated nonprofits.